For your info, we are also trying to book tickets to Israel and thought about combining it with Greece or Barcelona. We are finding that one way tickets to Israel are more money than round trip tickets. We are rethinking our plans now and are considering adding Petra to our itinerary, although we are wondering about safety issues.

We have spent 6 weeks in Greece (2 three week trips). Santarini and Mykonos are spectacular. Crete is a beautiful island - we spent approx 4 days there. You may also want to consider driving around the Peloponnesus area on greece's mainland and adding Delphi to your itinerary, especially if you like ancient ruins.

Can't help re: Israel and Greek Islands, but Petra is safe to visit and constantly visited by travelers from Israel,

dgunbug - why are you looking at one way tickets? You want a multi-city itinerary.

We were going to use frequent flyer one way and pay for one way since we don't have enough for round trip, but that doesn't work out. We will go to Israel and visit Petra while there.

Really enjoyed Petra. You need at least two full days.

Thursdaysd - I am hearing conflicting statements in whether to spend one or two days in Petra. What does one normally do on the second day? Return to Petra? Visit the desert area? What would I miss with a one day trip? I am inclined to spend the extra day, but have people telling us that there is not much to see beside the the main facade.

There is plenty to see! Sure the Treasury is the iconic sight, but if you keep walking (maybe these nay-sayers just stopped at the Treasury?) there is the Roman Theater, the royal tombs, the High Place of Sacrifice, the Monastery, even Byzantine mosaics. Not to mention that if you come down the back way from the High Place the colors of the rocks are just amazing.

Have your hotel fix you a box lunch, and plan to be there on a day when you can take the night walk. If you still need convincing take a look at my photos and blog:

http://kwilhelm.smugmug.com/Travel/Caucasus-and-Middle-East-2009/Petra
http://mytimetotravel.wordpress.com/2010/01/19/peerless-petra/

I had two full days and had no trouble filling them, and could have used a third to get to Little Petra.

Great pictures and blog. Thanks for sharing. What is little Petra? Do you recommend going into Jordan on a tour or independently? Did you spend any time in the desert?

Glad you liked them!

Little Petra - more of the same - http://nabataea.net/beidha.html

As I wrote on the blog, I wound up using a tour for most of my time in Jordan for several reasons: trouble getting hotel reservations, running out of planing time, and not being able to find a reasonably priced desert tour for one person. Unfortunately, I can't recommend the outfit I used. It's not difficult to travel in Jordan on your own if you don't mind springing for taxis, not so much public transport.

What a great link. Thanks. I will peruse it further from my computer when I have more time.

One more question - is the climbing difficult?
I'm curious if many people visit "little Petra".

I thought the climbing was pretty straightforward, aside from getting up above the royal tombs so you could look down on the Sanctuary. That was a bit of a scramble, but we could have missed the correct path. (Note, I was early 60s at the time.)

Suspect not a lot get to Little Petra, but then quite a few apparently don't get far past the Sanctuary.